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Even as India
indicated that it did not favour “derailing the ongoing peace process” in the
light of the Pathankot terror attack, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval have made it clear to their
Pakistani counterparts that any further engagement would “entirely depend on
what they deliver” on the vital inputs relating to the terrorists and their
handlers based in Bahawalpur and Sialkot.

Editorial:
Rapid-fire communication

Sources said Modi,
in very “uncertain” terms, told Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that it
would not suffice to say that the terrorists are “non-state actors”; rather,
India expects from him “credible action” to bring the culprits to the book.

“All evidences, including phone
intercepts, phone numbers of handlers in Pakistan, their names and locations
have been shared. Now they have to take action. We expect them to take action
in line with what they did in the case pertaining to the Peshawar terror attack
of December 16, 2014,” sources said. On that fateful day, seven gunmen
affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) launched an attack on Army Public
School in the city, killing 132 schoolchildren, besides others.

Sources said, in his
conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Gen Naseer Khan Janjua, NSA Ajit
Doval communicated about three specific handlers – Qashif Jaan of Sialkot and
Maulana Ashfaq Ahmad and Hazi Abdul Shaqur of Al Rahman Trust in Bahawalpur.
Even the phone details of the conversation between one of the terrorists, who attacked
the Pathankot air base, and his mother have been given to Janjua, they added.

“As per our information”,
sources said, “the terrorists were trained at Chaklala air base in Rawalpindi
and Layallpur air base in Faisalabad.” Claiming this as an assessment of the
security establishment in India, those, in the know of the anti-terror
operation in Pathankot said, “The terrorists had sufficient knowledge about
fighter planes and the assets at any air base. They had brought a huge quantity
of aluminium powder, which is used to ignite fire and the same could be
extinguished easily.”

Around 1,000 Army
men and Punjab Police personnel have converted Pandher village, around 2 km
from the Tibri cantonment, into a fortress following reports that two armed men
in Army uniform were seen moving around in a suspicious manner in the area. Two
SWAT teams of the Punjab Police have reached the area.

“The threat is real. It is not a
hoax call. We have sounded an alert throughout the state,” said an SSP-level
officer. Even as NIA Director General Sharad Kumar held a series of meetings at
the Air Force complex in connection with the January 2 Pathankot terror attack,
villagers said they saw some people in Army uniform entering sugarcane fields
having 15-foot-high crop.

“The Army has got vacated 500
houses in Pandher and adjoining Bhulechak and Babbehali villages,” sources
said. The terrorists who attacked the Pathankot air base and the Dinanagar
police station were also in Army uniform. “The fact that the cantonment area is
just 2 km away has added to our worries. We cannot take chances. More forces
are being requisitioned,” SSP Toor said.

DGP Suresh Arora, who returned
to Chandigarh from Pathankot today, was being regularly updated about the
developments. A massive search operation was on and neither the Army nor the
police were willing to comment.

Besides protection
of strategic assets and families of soldiers residing at the Pathankot Air
Force station, the safety of 23 trainee fighter pilots from other countries was
a major concern for the Indian security establishment when terrorists attacked
the air base on the intervening night of January 1 and 2.

Trainee fighter
pilots belonging to Afghanistan, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Myanmar were present at
the Pathankot air base on that day.

This was revealed by
Lt Gen KJ Singh, Army Commander, Western Command, today. The safety of those
pilots was a top priority for the security establishments involved in
neutralising the terrorists, he said.

Listing the
“successes” achieved during the operation, he said, “There has been no
collateral damage... Around 3,000 families (11,000 people) live in that air
force station. No harm was caused to them. More importantly, there were 23
foreign trainee pilots from four friendly nations. All of them are safe.” There
would have been a crisis situation had the terrorists taken hostage even one of
them, he said.

He also defended the
decision to deploy the National Security Guard (NSG) to deal with the
situation. “The decision to call in the NSG was taken by the appropriate
authority, including the Services chiefs. There could have been a hostage
crisis. Besides 3,000 families of Air Force personnel, some foreign trainees
were also present there. What if even a single foreign trainee was taken
hostage? The NSG is specially trained to deal with such situations,” he said.

“Had the air base suffered any
damage in the terror attack, it would have been very difficult to fly in the
NSG there. That was the main reason that the force was inducted at a very early
stage of the operation,” he said.

He said the operation was a
“complete success”. On disposing of terrorists’ bodies, he said of six, two
bodies are completely charred. The other four could be booby traps. A hand
grenade hanging with the body of a terrorist is visible. “We have yet to decide
whether to destroy these or not,” said Lt Gen KJ Singh, army commander, western
command.

Pathankot: One
suspected terrorist arrested at Air Force base by Indian Army

The apprehended
individual was nabbed near the gates of Air Force base by the security
personnel. He was carrying a bag which did not had explosives or ammunition.

By Mohammed Uzair
Shaikh on January 6, 2016 at 8:16 PM

Pathankot, Jan 6:
One suspected terrorist has been arrested by the security forces at the
Pathankot air base by the Indian army. The apprehended individual was nabbed
near the gates of Air Force base by the security personnel. As of now, no
confirmation is received whether the intercepted person belonged to the Jaish
militants.

The confirmation of
six terrorists being killed was made by Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar on
Tuesday. For the past 24 hours, the army awas carrying out the combing
operations. As such, it is unlikely that locals would reach near the IAF base.
However, the arrested suspected was walking in a casual manner, before army
personnel cornered him. (ALSO READ: Gurdaspur on high terror alert: Suspicious
movement seen of suspected infiltrators in army fatigues)

The apprehended
person was carrying a bag which did not had explosives or ammunition. The
combing operations are yet underway. The IAF base, located near the
Jammu-Pathankot Highway, is stretch for over several kilometers with a
significant patch of forest area lying in between.

Nearly a hour before
the suspected terrorist was apprehended at the gates of IAF base, the Punjab
Police and state Intelligence department issued an high-alert in Gurdaspur
after two men were seen in passing near the Timbri camp in army fatigues.

JAISALMER: Defence
establishments in Rajasthan have been advised not to share their contact
details with any caller without proper verification.

District police has
alerted the defence officials to take measures and ask officials to be cautious
in the wake of the recent attempts made by Pakistan intelligence agencies to
extract contact details of the defence establishments through internet calls.

Pak intelligence
agency ISI, through internet calls, had tried to get landline telephone numbers
of officers and jawans of the Indian Army from employees of the BSNL office
here. Such calls were received from Pakistan at the BSNL office here during the
war exercise at Phalsoond area of Pokhran between September to December 2015.

According to
district telecom officer Yogesh Bhaskar, during the war exercise at Pokhran sub
division, the Army unit here was allotted new numbers. It was then that the
BSNL's accounts division got calls from Pakistan seeking information of telephone
bills of unit officers and jawans. The caller also sought numbers of various
Army locations. The calls though are made from Pakistan but are identified as
those made from New Delhi. "The callers tried to hide their location
through internet calling but we managed to identify their exact location and
sounded alert," said the BSLN official. He said at that time they could
not know that calls were being made from Pakistan and the call attendant gave
one or two numbers to Pakistan. "Later intelligence agency alerted us that
phone call was from Pakistan," he said.

Defence spokesperson
Lt Col Manish Ojha said Pakistan calls to Army at the border areas is a serious
problem. Army forces and their family members get calls and looking at this
Army men and their family members have been told not to fall in trap to these
calls and not to share any information about the army.

"We have
advised defence officials to be careful and also impose restrictions on their
own personnel," said superintendent of police Jaisalmer, Rajiv Pachar. He
said that he has written letters to Army, IAF and BSF HQ in which it has been
advised to keep watch on officers and jawans carrying phones and cameras in
sensitive areas. Meanwhile, proper documentation of labourers working at the construction
sites on defence premises is being done in view of the Pathankot terror attack.
District police chief Pachar said important defence institutions have been
asked to ban mobiles with cameras on their premises. They have been asked to
keep a watch on telephone number of officers and jawans.

The district special
branch of the police has been directed to be alert and officers have been
deployed at under construction cantonment and at the Chandan field firing range
where on March 18 IAF's Iron fist exercise will be held.